Tekken Tag Tournament

Tekken Tag Tournament (鉄拳タッグトーナメント) is a tag-team fighting game initially released as an arcade game in July of 1999.  The game was created, developed, and published by Namco.  It is the fourth game in the Tekken series; however, the game does not follow the Tekken story line.  It was marketed as a ‘Dream Match’ that featured all characters in all of the previous Tekken installments.  Tekken Tag Tournament was later ported to the PlayStation 2.  The PlayStation 2 version featured updated graphics but played nearly identical to the arcade version.  The PlayStation 2 version was also remade with graphics improvements in the bundle collection Tekken Hybrid under the title of Tekken Tag Tournament HD.

Gameplay

Tekken Tag Tournament features a similar play style to the previous Tekken installments.  It is the first game of the series that features tag battles.  Each player selects two characters before the round begins.  The round is considered to be won if either of the characters’ life bars are depleted.  The gameplay of Tekken Tag Tournament is very close to its predecessor, Tekken 3.  The two games ran on the same engine and it is often considered to be an upgraded version of Tekken 3.   Both games feature similar characteristics in their basic strikes, special moves, throws, side stepping, and air juggles.  The new tag system allowed players to change at almost any point during the round.  This allowed for deeper gameplay strategies during fights.  All characters from previous editions were also given new moves for Tekken Tag Tournament.  Certain characters featured tag maneuvers that are unique to that team; some based on previous story lines.

Features

Tag System (Change)

The tag system, also known as change, was the most drastic feature to be added in Tekken Tag Tournament.  It allowed players to swap characters at nearly any point in the round.  Tagging, or changing, is accomplished by pushing the Tag, or Change, button at an appropriate time.  A skilled player can interrupt an opponent’s tag by striking the opponent before the swap is completed.  Tagging out your character often leaves the incoming character exposed for damage.  Characters could be swapped at a standing position, grounded position, while throwing an opponent, and while an opponent is in mid-air.  When a character has a depleted life bar, a portion of it may be recovered while the other character is on-screen.  Special character tag teams have access to unique maneuvers and tagging animations based on prior story lines.

Netsu Power

Tekken Tag Tournament  introduced a new feature that is commonly known as Netsu Power, or rage.  The off-screen character of a player’s tag team would grow enraged as their on-screen counterpart takes multiple hits.  The number of hits required to activate Netsu Power in a player’s partner depends on who they are teamed up with.  For example, Nina will never become enraged with Nestu Power as long as Anna is her partner; and Ganryu will become enraged quicker than usual when Michelle is taking damage as his tag partner.  When Netsu Power becomes activated, the off-screen character’s life bar will flash red and will stay ready until they are tagged in.  Netsu Power adds a temporary modifier of 1.3 to all damage.  The Netsu Power modifier does not stack with other modifiers like counter hits, clean hits, or Ki Power.  See damage page for more information.  Netsu Power returned in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and a version of it known as “Rage” was implemented in Tekken 6.  

Endurance

For the first and only time in the series, Tekken Tag Tournament features the life point system commonly referred to as endurance.  The basic principal of endurance is that groups of characters have more life points than others.  The standard life bar in the series is 140 points of damage.  In Tekken Tag Tournament, there are 6 groups of characters with different variables to those 140 points.  See damage page for more information.

Expanded Character Roster

Tekken Tag Tournament featured the largest character roster until Tekken 6.  The game featured a version of nearly every playable character in the Tekken series up to its release.  Dr. Bosconovitch and Gon were the only characters that did not return to Tekken Tag Tournament; both of which were only playable in the home version of Tekken 3.  The game’s boss character Unknown is only playable in the home version of Tekken Tag Tournament.

Trivia

• The character Tetsujin first appears in Tekken Tag Tournament.
• Tekken Tag Tournament is the last Tekken game to have no walls in every stage.